Ever wondered how the simple act of telling your story could be so powerful and therapeutic? Join me, Kristy Wolfe, as I sit down with Melody Williamson, a seasoned Common Language digital storytelling facilitator to uncover the healing magic behind digital storytelling. We delve into Melody's fascinating journey and her encounters with Mike Lang, who envisioned a universal framework for digital storytelling. We also explore the transformative effect of sharing personal narratives and how it creates a ripple effect, inspiring others, and fostering a sense of community and empathy.
Make no mistake, storytelling is not just about entertainment. It's a mighty tool for mental and emotional wellbeing, a doorway to self-discovery, and a bridge that connects communities. As we journey through the realm of digital storytelling, we'll see how it's being wielded in healthcare settings to foster learning and quality improvement through hearing people's experiences. We'll also give you a sneak peek into events like Kitchen Table Nights with Common Language and the Wellspring Festival, where individuals gather to share their tales and participate in enriching conversations. Buckle up and join us in this heartwarming exploration of the timeless power of narratives and the exciting possibilities that emerge when we bring them into the digital realm.
About our Guest
Like all of us, Melody Williamson has been a storyteller all of her life - from reading books on her mother’s lap to a career in professional theatre, to her consulting work in equity and social justice issues. In recent years, she has combined all of her skills and experience into her passion for giving voice to those voices that aren’t typically heard and creating connection between people through digital storytelling. She has worked with parents of children with varying abilities, parents with medically complex children, and she is the Digital Storytelling Team Leader for Wellspring Alberta, working with people on a journey with cancer and their caregivers. Melody is excited to collaborate with not-for-profit and private organizations to co-create stories with a wide variety of people whose voices need to be heard!
CLICK HERE and HERE to watch Digital Stories co-created by Melody.
About Leading Through Stories
Everyone has a story to tell—and what we do with that story can create lasting impact. Every episode, Leading Through Stories, helps unravel the how and why of digital storytelling with host Kristy Wolfe.
Life is made up of meaningful moments—which ones do you want to share?
This podcast is presented by Common Language DST, digital storytelling facilitation training for health and wellness changemakers.
Don't miss an episode from Leading Through Stories!
Sign up for the Leading Through Stories newsletter, follow us on Instagram @LeadingThroughStories and subscribe on your favourite podcast platform.
Ever wondered how the simple act of telling your story could be so powerful and therapeutic? Join me, Kristy Wolfe, as I sit down with Melody Williamson, a seasoned Common Language digital storytelling facilitator to uncover the healing magic behind digital storytelling. We delve into Melody's fascinating journey and her encounters with Mike Lang, who envisioned a universal framework for digital storytelling. We also explore the transformative effect of sharing personal narratives and how it creates a ripple effect, inspiring others, and fostering a sense of community and empathy.
Make no mistake, storytelling is not just about entertainment. It's a mighty tool for mental and emotional wellbeing, a doorway to self-discovery, and a bridge that connects communities. As we journey through the realm of digital storytelling, we'll see how it's being wielded in healthcare settings to foster learning and quality improvement through hearing people's experiences. We'll also give you a sneak peek into events like Kitchen Table Nights with Common Language and the Wellspring Festival, where individuals gather to share their tales and participate in enriching conversations. Buckle up and join us in this heartwarming exploration of the timeless power of narratives and the exciting possibilities that emerge when we bring them into the digital realm.
About our Guest
Like all of us, Melody Williamson has been a storyteller all of her life - from reading books on her mother’s lap to a career in professional theatre, to her consulting work in equity and social justice issues. In recent years, she has combined all of her skills and experience into her passion for giving voice to those voices that aren’t typically heard and creating connection between people through digital storytelling. She has worked with parents of children with varying abilities, parents with medically complex children, and she is the Digital Storytelling Team Leader for Wellspring Alberta, working with people on a journey with cancer and their caregivers. Melody is excited to collaborate with not-for-profit and private organizations to co-create stories with a wide variety of people whose voices need to be heard!
CLICK HERE and HERE to watch Digital Stories co-created by Melody.
About Leading Through Stories
Everyone has a story to tell—and what we do with that story can create lasting impact. Every episode, Leading Through Stories, helps unravel the how and why of digital storytelling with host Kristy Wolfe.
Life is made up of meaningful moments—which ones do you want to share?
This podcast is presented by Common Language DST, digital storytelling facilitation training for health and wellness changemakers.
Don't miss an episode from Leading Through Stories!
Sign up for the Leading Through Stories newsletter, follow us on Instagram @LeadingThroughStories and subscribe on your favourite podcast platform.
I already had the spark for digital storytelling once I met Mike. Then it really took off and I met Mike at a time when he kind of had the early vision for what was to become common language and this idea of people all being kind of trained within the same framework and protocols and values, because what I had learned on the states kind of got me going. But Mike Really, with the extensive research and experience that he had, he really knew about how to take the process further. Especially as an individual who wants to hang your shingle as a digital storytelling facilitator, mike really had what I was looking for to take that next step.
Kristy Wolfe:Welcome to leading through stories, a podcast that explores the how and why of digital storytelling. My name is Kristy Wolfe, and each episode I connect with storytellers or common language digital storytelling facilitators to learn more about the health and wellness stories they are creating and sharing. Life is made up of meaningful moments. Which ones do you want to share with me today is Melody. Now, melody and I did a lot of our training together. We've actually done quite a bit together and she is someone that I have learned a lot about Common Language Digital Storytelling from. So, melody, will you actually introduce yourself and tell us about how you came to digital storytelling?
Melody Williamson:I've always been into storytelling since you know, like all of us, I have these memories of sitting on my mom's lap reading stories. You know, when my older siblings had gone to school and you know I ended up pursuing a career in theater actually that's how much I love storytelling and also English literature and university. And then eventually I took a master's in organizational behavior and when I reached the sort of crossroads, if you will, of the time of the empty nesters, and you know when my kids have gone to university and I got a job, and you know when my kids have gone to university and I said, ok, now it's time for Melody 2.0. And you know I really did a lot of work around who I was, and you know, sometimes in this work you come up with a word and my word was storytelling because I knew that I loved, you know, theater, I loved English literature, etc. But then I started to explore, you know, like story slams and I was going to oral story circles and just anything to do a story and I stumbled upon digital storytelling. You know, just sort of searching through all these anything to do with stories. And I ended up going down to California where sort of digital storytelling originated in Berkeley and I did some programs down there and really got excited about it.
Melody Williamson:I came back to Calgary and I also happened to be a cancer survivor. So I went to this amazing holistic healing center called Wellspring now called Wellspring Alberta and I talked to the director at the time. Her name was Patty, I'd known her for years and I said, patty, I just really figured out what my next, what my passion is in the next chapter of my life and I really want to do digital stories with other people who've gone on a cancer journey at Wellspring. And she said that's a great idea. We actually have somebody who's been doing it for 10 years. I said, well, who? And she said Mike Lang. So she connected us.
Melody Williamson:I, even though I'd already had the spark for digital storytelling once I met Mike. Then it really took off. And I met Mike at a time when he kind of had the early vision for what was to become common language and this idea of people all being kind of trained within the same framework and protocols and values. I said I am all in because what I had learned in the States kind of got me going. But Mike really, with the extensive research and experience that he had, he really knew about how to take the process further, especially as an individual who wants to hang your shingle as a digital storytelling facilitator. Mike really had what I was looking for to take that next step.
Kristy Wolfe:I think back to when I did my level one. You were already a level one facilitator with Common Language and you've done this work with Mike and you've done some workshops and stuff. You were the first person in Common Language that I saw that was doing it more on a consulting basis and you weren't tied to an organization. So some of our facilitators were trained because the organization they work for did the training for them and then they use it within their job in that organization. And you were more similar to me in that you were kind of looking to do this and find your own clients or find your own people to tell stories with, and so that really struck a chord with me and so then we ended up getting to do the level two training together. So level two training for digital storytelling is when you work with people on workshops. So you would work with six to eight people to do a workshop, and Melody has a lot of experience with that with Wellspring. Will you talk a little bit more about that as well?
Melody Williamson:Yeah, sure, Wellspring. You know Mike had been doing digital stories at Wellspring for about 10 years when I started to get involved, first with Mike and then eventually, you know, when Mike finished his PhD and was moving on to other things as well, they kind of transferred over to me, and I'm so grateful for that because I love Wellspring. But what we do there is we go four times a year. We have small groups of six to eight people that we work with individually to help them find their stories. Oftentimes it's about their cancer journey, but not always.
Melody Williamson:I mean sometimes, when someone's going through something like that, they want to talk about another part of their life. Oftentimes, coming out of those really major, sometimes traumatic events, people end up discovering a new self as well and go in an exciting new direction. That's one of the gifts that comes out of it. I mean I just finished doing a program with families and that was interesting to get the perspectives of each parent as well as teenagers, younger children. You're dealing with people at all different stages of life and that was quite an experience.
Kristy Wolfe:For that family workshop were they each telling their own story? So let's say a parent and a teen were telling two different stories, or they were telling it and working on it together.
Melody Williamson:They were actually telling separate parts of one story. Oh, so the family was creating a story. So in a sense you have one person I will just say it often is the mother kind of driving the process, but others are contributing to it. Yeah, so that was really interesting. I mean we'll look at other explorations in the future. There is a possibility of doing it where each person does their own story. That's also something to look at down the road.
Kristy Wolfe:And your original workshops would be each person telling their own story. Is that how it was set up before?
Melody Williamson:Yeah, and that's the majority of what people do at Wellspring is that people come in individually. You know, like in any digital storytelling process, you have a small group of people with a similar lived experience. They each make an individual story and then at the end they get to share it. You know we'll talk about the therapeutic value of digital storytelling and a holistic healing center like Wellspring in particular. That is the primary goal of these stories. Beyond that, sometimes they end up being used on, say, the Wellspring website to inspire other people, but the primary purpose is to help the individuals that are going through their cancer journey. As part of that, it's really important that they get to go through a healing process within themselves, but the healing often comes from the connection between people. You know you're not alone, you feel acknowledged, and that's important in all digital storytelling. But when someone is going through something like cancer, I think it's especially important that they have people they can relate to and connect with, right. That's what it's all about.
Kristy Wolfe:Melody. That brings me back to when we did our level two training to learn to do the workshops. We did it together. We were the two facilitators, learning that we had a group of medical parents, and so that's what you're explaining about. The cancer journey is how I think about medical families, because that's an experience I have and then I can relate in some ways Again, not the same experience, but there's similarities and experience that draw you into these stories. I can see you and your work and me and my work are like because of our lived experience and I love it. I think that's an incredible part of it.
Kristy Wolfe:The other part I wanted to touch on was with Wellspring. So with digital storytelling, with common language, digital storytelling, we think of two parts. We think of the process and we think of the product, and in each case there might be different goals. So we often talk about education, advocacy, research or therapeutic intent. I was struggling a little bit because I haven't been in a situation where the goal was solely therapeutic intent. Mike was like that's what Wellspring is, wellspring. It came together because it was solely for therapeutic intent, other than screening the stories for the group. It never needed to go anywhere else. The product wasn't being repurposed for anything else, so that helped to reframe it for me. I just haven't had the experience where people are coming together only to tell it for the process, right.
Melody Williamson:And I'll just comment on that a little bit that I really feel like when the goal is therapeutic intent, that it's kind of like the medium is the message, in that how we go about it is what's really important. So the healing to me starts with just the notion that you are creating space, as you do with any digital story, but you're creating space to listen, to acknowledge what someone's gone through. And I know with my acting background we would talk a lot about an actor getting into a state of readiness, and I'll just say that in work where there is a therapeutic intent, so much of it is about helping someone to get into a state of readiness where they feel the comfort and the safety level to be able to share that story that is waiting to be told, that they don't even know exists yet, and so this idea that people need to be sort of eased into it. For instance, I have people that sometimes you know I've gone through very specific cancer experiences and in a few cases I will have done a story with someone else who's experienced that, and it's so rare. So sometimes before I even meet with a person individually, after the first session I will send them a story by someone else that's been through something similar and Just seeing that story they come back and they go oh, now there's somebody I've seen somebody else that's going through what I'm going through and already that inspires them.
Melody Williamson:I just think that Storytelling becomes the pebble in the pond. So, for instance, at Wellspring, somebody gets to be inspired by someone else's story, which also happens at the film festivals To give them the courage to go. I want to do that, I can do that, I'm not alone. Somebody that's been through something similar to me, has gone through this and has done a story, and then they get the benefit of Telling the story, then they get the benefit in the group. Then, like last night, we just had an amazing film festival, and then, you know, the ripples of the pond extend to members of the public or some people in their family and friend group even that Really see them differently after hearing their story at a festival the wellspring holds.
Kristy Wolfe:Can we? The festival was the wellspring festival.
Melody Williamson:Yes, oh, okay, okay, there is that opportunity Beyond the group to share it At a festival, meaning, you know, it's like a kitchen table night. It's a time when we get together and there might be 30 to 50 people online and we are sharing someone's story and they get to talk about their experience. And you know, like last night, it was really interesting to hear storytellers from a few months ago and even a few years ago share what their experience was like for others, and almost they become the pebble in the pond and they're encouraging others to do this. And then there was another level to it where there was a whole discussion around the fact that people get something different from these stories when they revisit them years later.
Kristy Wolfe:Yeah, just the different interpretations.
Melody Williamson:Yeah, whatever you're living in that moment.
Melody Williamson:You might have a new discovery and a new insight from seeing that story Five years later and reflecting on where you were then and where you are now. So even though in a sense the goal isn't for the story to necessarily go beyond the small group, in some ways it does because there's opportunities to share it in In larger groups and sometimes they can put them on the Wellspring website and that becomes an inspiration for others, even just to watch it and connect with that and go okay, that I can relate to that. Maybe I can get through this too, I mean, even if they don't come and create a story, but oftentimes it does inspire people to want to do their own story.
Kristy Wolfe:Well, and you mentioned kitchen table nights, and I'm just gonna mention for listeners because some people that are listening to this podcast are Brand new. Some people are facilitators already, so I like to try and kind of give people some information at the same time. So you mentioned kitchen table nights. Common Language Digital Storytelling, runs for Kitchen Table Nights each year and Often they have a theme and it is exactly what melody is talking about, where it's virtual people come together and they share stories that they would like to share in this small group setting. So it is a lot about the conversation, what the experience was like. For some people it's because they've told a story. For other people it's because they're interested in digital stories. Other people might be coming in because their friends or family and they want to see that particular digital story. So I find it's always a range of people, which is probably similar to the festival that you just put on your storytellers. They're people, and then the people that are interested and aren't quite there yet for telling a digital story.
Melody Williamson:Mm-hmm and some people, just members of the public, come to, for instance, the wellspring kitchen table nights or festivals regularly.
Melody Williamson:I mean, mike has been putting them on for years and they come just because of the discussion and what they connect with in these stories and what it does for them to just you break off into small groups and you talk about how this story impacted you. And you know, we know, that there's tons of research out there that validates the fact that. You know, story work is important to our emotional, mental wellness as human beings and it's kind of what we use to get through life. And we just know that as human beings, right, that stories from the beginning of time have been used to help make sense of what goes on in our lives. I know that when I was thinking about delving further into digital storytelling, even though I have an English degree, I thought, you know, I want to go back and revisit mythology, because that is the root of all of this, right? So I took a mythology course and just kind of reconnected with the fact that we know that.
Melody Williamson:You know, all cultures have their own mythology and storytelling is how they passed on wisdom about things, and so we're basically just continuing something that's been done from the beginning of time. We just found a new way to do it. You know it's great doing it digitally just opens up all kinds of opportunities to share it.
Kristy Wolfe:So I'm going to take you back a little further when you did your first digital story. What was your meaningful moment in your digital story? When you were just learning this process? What did you start building a story around?
Melody Williamson:Right. Well, and I didn't know this until I got there Of course, that often happens in digital storytelling I was at a transition point in my life. I was kind of the intersection of two transitions. One was transitioning from having children at home to being an empty nester when they went up to university, and the other one is more of a we to me story where, for the first time in my life really, I realized I was going to be on my own. You know, you grow up with family, you live with roommates. In university I got married, I had children.
Melody Williamson:I had never actually lived on my own and when I was transitioning, you know, I went through a separation, and so my first digital story just happened to sort of hit at that time when I was in that place and, funny enough, the meaningful moment that we're looking for in that story came about when I was at a friend's getaway yoga retreat and, interestingly enough, through a series of events, I ended up with a live bat in my suitcase.
Melody Williamson:So yeah, that's always fodder for all kinds of storytelling. But really what happened over that weekend is we all kind of reminded each other that bats are a symbol of rebirth, and my whole meaningful moment was the realization, as I was kind of just exuberantly dancing in the kitchen with my friends. It was that moment when I first realized that I was going to explore the part of me that was just me, that was not a mother or a partner or any particular role. It was just rediscovering me in a way I hadn't done, probably, since I was maybe a child, a teenager, and so that was the meaningful moment and that's what my story revolved around. I ended up calling it the Renaissance. It was my Renaissance, right?
Kristy Wolfe:OK, and so if you were going to create a new digital story now, what would your meaningful moment be about?
Melody Williamson:Well, I think right now, on a personal level and also kind of just with where things are at in the world, I think my next digital story would have something to do with the experience that I've been privileged to have with hosting a Ukrainian family. With the war in the Ukraine, I reached a moment about a year ago when I just said I met this point in my life when I can and should absolutely be doing something. And I just had this, I felt compelled to do something and I ended up hosting this young family that had become family to me, and I'll just say that it's opened up so many things. It's opened up this connection with what is going on in the world and not just viewing it as another news story, but having somebody who is actually connected to people that are going through war, and it's quite unsettling to the bones in some ways realizing that because we live such a sheltered life in many ways in Canada and although there's lots of things happening now, just given events in the world, and so when I think about this story just recently, for instance, I was at an event that this family hosted.
Melody Williamson:It was a year after they'd come to Canada and it was their son, who was born shortly after they arrived.
Melody Williamson:It was his first birthday, and so we had this gathering of many of my friends who also supported this family, other people from the Ukraine who are recent immigrants to Canada and just this realization, this moment of connection going.
Melody Williamson:We are the same. We come from different parts of the world, we did grow up in many ways with different experiences, but in that moment, just that sense of building this community where we are the same, and I think that that's what's needed right now in the world in the larger sense, right With everything that's going on, that there needs to be this reminder, hopefully through story, that we can see each other as human beings and, you know, with the people that I've been honored to get to know and now call family, you know, they were strangers from another part of the world a year ago and now we are so connected. We're connected for life, and so that would be the story. That's the area of storytelling that I'm also very interested in exploring is the connection between people that host new immigrants to Canada and just taking the step towards trying to get to really know somebody and make them part of your community.
Kristy Wolfe:Yeah, well, and it's interesting because so much of what Mike talks about and what come in language often talks about is healthcare settings, and that's not always the role that I'm in and it sounds like. Similarly, wellspring is a healthcare type setting where people are telling healthcare stories, but there are so many different options for what people could be telling stories about. The new Canadian experience is something that can be learned from and that can be like. That idea of quality improvement in healthcare is true across all of these different areas. So each time that we hear stories about people's experiences, there is learnings in that it's not just about oh, that stands out for me or that resonates with me, but also what can we learn from this story that could better support people coming to Canada or all of these different things that we end up telling stories about. Right, absolutely. So I'm glad you, I'm glad you talked about that one.
Melody Williamson:Yeah, thank you. No, it's something that's meaningful to me right now.
Kristy Wolfe:Yeah, and so where do you think your work's going to take you next? What are you envisioning for digital storytelling? You have done level one. You co-create stories with people. You've done the level two, workshop training. What's next?
Melody Williamson:Well, I am planning to do my level three. In fact, I'm set up to do that with Mike. I envision, you know, mentoring other facilitators at some point. I always want to continue to do the work, though because I say because I love it so much. But I'm excited to have other people share in this experience and I think there's so much to be done out there that really there is a need for all of us to help other people to get involved.
Kristy Wolfe:Melody is talking about. Level three is facilitator trains other facilitators and I'm wondering, melody, did you ever have anyone from Wellspring show an interest in going further with digital storytelling?
Melody Williamson:I actually have had that. Absolutely. There's people that are interested in this, whether it's through Wellspring or other digital storytelling that I've done. In fact, one of the people that I did a story with actually came to one of our workshops at one point.
Kristy Wolfe:And once people try it and understand what digital storytelling is, because we know it can be kind of a loose term that people kind of walk into and they're not totally sure. But I think that once that happens and once people have the experience of doing a digital story, they often are interested in doing it again. So, melody, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me about all of these things today.
Melody Williamson:Well, thank you, Kristy, for having me and thank you for being a pebble in the pond because, as you said, last time we got together, you said you really love talking about digital storytelling. I do too, but you do a great job of spreading the word throughout the community in many different ways, and we really appreciate that.
Kristy Wolfe:Thank you. Throughout my conversation with Melody, we talked about different levels of digital storytelling, so I thought I would ask Mike to talk a little bit more about common language and the three different levels of training.
Mike Lang:One thing I discovered early on in my own digital storytelling facilitation practice is that facilitating a group experience with up to eight people you know it was a whole different level above working one to one with someone on a single story, and that's really why we have three different levels of a facilitator training with Common Language.
Mike Lang:Level one is the foundational training, where you get to start by making your own story before taking a deep dive into theoretical and practical skills and then finally facilitating your very first story with a volunteer and this gives you a running start into the world of digital storytelling facilitation. And as you get more confident, you can sign up for the level two training, where we talk about all the important things when facilitating group workshops and again you get to run a workshop with volunteers and a common language trainer in the room to support you. So finally, you know when you're a full-time facilitator and have lots of experience. The level three training is where you can actually be trained to teach the level one and level two trainings and that's the highest level of certification we offered. So most people will only go to level two because that's all they'll really need to help people create incredible stories. But no matter what level you're at, you will immediately be able to create really beautiful stories that can change the world for the better.
Kristy Wolfe:Everyone has a story to tell. We would love to hear from you. We always include a link to the stories we're talking about in the episode show notes. Please let us know what resonated for you in today's episode. Your comments will be passed on to the storyteller. You can email us at LTSpodcast2023@ gmail. com, or find us on Instagram at @leadingthroughstories. Leading Through Stories is sponsored by Common Language Digital Storytelling, facilitator training for health and wellness change makers. Don't miss the next episode. Subscribe to Leading Through Stories on your favourite podcast platform.